Not quite as glamourous as a secret bank account.

For most people doing long-haul domestic travel in Japan, the Shinkansen is their default method of getting from Point A to far-away Point B. However, sometimes it’s just as quick, if not quicker, to fly, especially if you’re starting at one end of the country and going all the way to the other.

In addition, while Shinkansen tickets are more or less constant in price, airfares fluctuate, so if you time your trip right, flying can be quicker and more economical than taking the train. Taking a plane starts to look like an even better option if you’re racking up frequent flyer miles…unless, that is, you’re a member of the yakuza, in which case trying to get frequent flyer miles can get you arrested.

On May 17, the Fukuoka Prefectural Police arrested Yuta Hirayama, a 42-year-old man from the town of Onojo, Fukuoka Prefecture. According to his arrest report, Hirayama has no officially designated job, but the police say he is a registered member of an organized crime syndicate that’s a subordinate group to the Kudo-kai, a Japanese mafia group based in Fukuoka.

Between June and November of 2023, Hirayama took nine domestic flights with a major Japanese airline, including flights between Fukuoka and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to visit an acquaintance who was in prison in east Japan. In the process, he accrued 4,224 frequent flyer miles to an account registered in his name. However, the terms of service for the airline’s frequent flyer program includes a clause that members, by using the program, profess that they are not members of a criminal organization. Based on their assertion that Hirayama is a member of such a group, the police say that by using his account to accrue miles, he committed an act of fraud.

As we’ve discussed before, transactions and service contracts with no-yakuza clauses are common in Japan. It’s illegal, for example, for yakuza members to make mobile phone contracts or attend professional baseball games, as telecom providers and sports leagues don’t want to be associated with criminal organizations. Businesses are especially leery of having yakuza as members of loyalty programs that offer any sort of customer credit, since it could be construed as providing them with financial benefits. That’s why, for example, there are supermarket point programs with no-yakuza clauses, and with 4,224 miles within the frequent flyer program that Hirayama was a member of being exchangeable for 4,224 yen (US$27) in flight credit, the airline has a no-yakuza clause as well.

There is an additional wrinkle to this case, though, in that Hirayama had been a member of the frequent flyer program since 2013, but the airline only added its no-yakuza clause in 2022. As such, even if proven to be a member of a criminal organization, Hirayama’s initial entry into the program wasn’t fraudulent. However, the 2022 no-yakuza clause was ostensibly among the periodic terms of service updates that such programs require users to agree to when logging into their account, placing the legal responsibility on yakuza members to read through the new terms and withdraw from the program. So while many people simply scroll down to where they can click “OK” on such updates, if you’re a gangster, you really should read through them.

It’s unclear whether prosecutors will seek jail time for Hirayama, but if he is confirmed to be a yakuza member, his frequent flyer miles will be forfeited.

Source: Asahi Shimbun via Yahoo! Japan News, Yomiuri Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun
Top image: Pakutaso
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